This marriage seems headed for divorce at some point over the next year and a half. And it’s hard to fault Aldridge for seeking a fresh start at this stage of his career. When your contemporaries around the league are joining forces left and right and lining up for championship runs, being in the midst of continuous rebuilding situations in Portland does nothing for an All-Star’s title hopes.

There was a time, as recently as three years ago (before all of the injuries, tumult and roster and front office upheaval), when it looked like Aldridge might realize those dreams in Portland. But he’s the last man standing from that pre-Olshey era. Now he’s looking for a fresh start somewhere he can be a key piece on a playoff team, a contender even, albeit with two years and some $30 million remaining on his current deal.

But if Aldridge and the Trail Blazers are set for a split, amicable or not, snagging equal value for a 7-foot, 240-pound power forward that can play center in this small-ball phase the league is going through will be tough. At 27, Aldridge is still young enough to be slotted as one of a team’s frontcourt anchors for the next six or seven seasons.

Still, there is an air of uncertainty surrounding these reported trade suggestions. The names being thrown around, by one side or the other, will raise plenty of eyebrows:

Trading Aldridge for a collection of draft picks will not be an option.

Prospective teams holding the rights to Joakim Noah, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Al Horford and Anthony Davis, as of now, have declined to involve their franchise players in any potential deals for Aldridge, a league source told CSNNW.com.

Unless something changes after Summer League, the likely development is Aldridge returning to Portland next season and having a strong year to increase the likelihood of Olshey pulling the trigger on a deal.

When Aldridge is a year removed from becoming a free agent, his camp will have more leverage than at the current time.

Aldridge could return for another season and pair up with Rookie of the Year-winning guard Damian Lillard and find himself in a situation that might be to his liking. Robin Lopez and Thomas Robinson have been added to the mix, guys Olshey expects to do the “grit-and-grind” work to while preserving Aldridge from shouldering as much of the load as he’s had to the past three seasons. A run at a playoff spot could change Aldridge’s outlook on this team, which is why Olshey would be wise to hold off on serious trade talks for as long as he can.

But in a day and age when star players bolt from their incumbent franchises for all sorts of reasons, the Trail Blazers would have to listen if one of those aforementioned players were actually to become available.

Love grew up in suburban Portland and Griffin has connections to Olshey from their shared time with the Clippers. Both Noah and Horford are the kind of no-nonsense, hard-working players that could fit in anywhere. And Davis is a young talent with perhaps the highest ceiling of all.

With a huge free-agent summer of 2014 on the horizon already and a potentially monster 2014 Draft class in play as well, teams with proven commodities in the fold have to keep all of their options open these days.

And again, if these are the sorts of talents that could come into play at some point, Olshey would be obligated to at least explore the possibilities.

It’s only right, considering Aldridge’s camp is doing the same thing … exploring the possibilities.

why not see if the heat can trade for him he fits into our system more than anyone a big who can shoot from the outside peferct for bron bron nd 3 to drive into the lanes……………….yea ik it wud drive up our tax money but with the release of miller ask portland for a lil bit of cash nd will give them 1st rounders varnardo who is looking like a defensive star in summer league james ennis who is a big wing who can score nd james jones

Aldridge has a good team around him and it will only get better over the next couple of years.
No one has anything to offer Portland… Asik… Yeah right, they just got Lopez (getting better.) LA wouldn’t work in Houston cos Dwight couldn’t handle sharing the ball, a-la the Lakers & Pau.Blake?! As if thats going to happen. Bosh… If I was Miami I would definitely try but Portland would be going backwards (Bosh will get traded.) If you really think Detroit would give up Monroe and Smith for LA and a pick you should go back to NBA 2k13 with your trade over ride on and keep living the dream.
Portland need to keep LA. If Portland don’t make the playoffs this year with the team they have I will be shocked. McGollum will help with bench scoring and fingers crossed T Rob gets it together.

i dont see any other guy in the league that fits the toronto raptors more than aldrige does, when you look at the team, they got young talents, and most of their players are young and talented, not experienced but talented, adding aldrige to that mix would give the Heats an headache, if the raptors dont try their best to get this guy, they can forget about been a contender team, aldrige fits so perfect, he’s like a (valancunais+amir+dwight howard) combination all in one, i see them making the playoff and possibly competing with the cheater Heats for the eastern conference championship

Aldridge will be a Blazer until a team is willing to cough up some serious talent.

They won’t be trading him to a contender in the west and they won’t be sending him to Miami for Bosh.

By readng these comments alone you all know that he is talented, everyone wants him on their team.

Cough up the talent if you want him otherwise he’ll be at Portland until his contract runs up or he wins a ring there.

Portland have lost former ROY & All Star Brandon Roy to injury, Greg Oden who was supposed to answer the question of Center for years to come to injury. Olshey won’t deal away Aldridge for nothing; not if he cares about the fans.

I always thought Aldridge was a great player, especially in the low post; however. I don’t see any deals striking for him around the league, at the moment. He is a typical power forward, and in this league, teams are not constructed around typical power forwards. Olshey wants Griffin or Love for Aldridge, and i cannot see any of these trades happening. The reason being, Paul would not like to play with a big man like L.A. and Aldridge wouldn’t like to go to Minnesota because it is not even a contender. Furthermore, BUlls are not an option because they don’t have the right pieces to get the deal done. I guess, he will have to play two more seasons and part his way out during the free-agency

So, you’re reporting this story as fact? Brook Lopez, and LaMarcus Aldridge have the same agent. Portland just signed Lopez. Could the meeting possibly have been about Lopez and not about Aldridge. Way to take another reporters conjecture and report it as truth. I guess investigative journalism doesn’t count anymore. LaMarcus tweeted that this hasn’t happened. I believe LaMarcus over you or Mr. Haynes.

6 rings dream on buddy the mamba years are over no more championships for him this past year was his last chance!! Why do you think people are talking about sending LBJ or Melo to LA is so that he can retire and they can take over but its not happening only LA team thats gonna make noise next seaon will be the Clippers.

I know Portland wants a star center in exchange for Aldridge, I do not see them pulling that off easily. That being said the bulls probably won’t but should consider trading Noah for Aldridge. Straight up Noah is a better all around talent, and Portland has Batum and Lillard in the scoring department. Why would Portland take this trade? Because Noah is arguably one of the best centers in the league when healthy and provides to them more than just scoring and size.
Chicago does this because with Noah’s injury history and Chicago having scoring troubles, LA can be that second scorer behind Rose. Its a step in the right direction for both teams, unless Chicago can not find a suitable center. This deal won’t happen until Chi can find a quality center (which they can do next year after Luo and Boozer come off the books).

Either way I want to see him play for the Windy city sometime within two years! Hopefully management doesn’t think Noah is untouchable.

Exactly… they need a backup plan for a Center if they want this deal to happen. How are they going to make the trade and not have a Center all season? Move Boozer to the Center spot so he can leave the lane even more wide open? Chicago isn’t even in this race for LA to be honest. Portland should get Bosh and Mario Chalmers for LA.

It’s not as though he can just leave Portaland and sign with SA. He’s still under contract for 2 more years. On top of that, SA has no money to sign him at $15M/yr (and likely looking for more on his next contract).

POR solid? Granted Lillard had a solid year, but now teams have film on him, its like in MLB the 2nd yr the phenom pitcher comes around is always worse. Matthews is avg at best as is Batum…many avg and bad games and then a breakout game followed by another string of bad games. Lopez is solid for 10 and 8. Maynor isn’t much of anything, McCollum will be nice, but a major tweener and a huge liability on defense. Buford!?!?! Robinson never showed much in Sac or in Hou, he’s rapidly running out of options. That is NOT a strong team, its not even a PO team for this coming season. SAS, HOU, LAC, GSW, Utah, OKC, MEM..will all win their series against POR. POR is on the outside looking in, but w/some young developing horses. R

Us getting Aldridge was one of the bright spots in my sports watching career lol because I’m a Univ of Texas fan as well as a Portland fan so it was great to see. I’m glad he’s become the type of player that I always thought he was capable of becoming, so with that said, anything less than equal to in potentially greater talent and or production from a player we receive for him will be unacceptable. We deserve to lose this player on our own terms since we were not able to lose our other cornerstone players from the last five years amicably…

Celtics will make a move on Aldridge next year after they can unload Humphries, Bogans and Wallace – they also have a ton of cash in the trade exception they received from Brooklyn. Aldridge in Boston Green – that I would like to see!

Do you Celtic fans read? I know you’re probably in love with your C’s, but you’re dilusional. Why would the Blazers trade a two time All Star (in the deep Western Conference no less) for a bag of peanuts and Danny Ainge’s pocket lint? The best you could do is using Rondo in a three team trade, or Jeff Green. After that, you have nothing Portland wants.

Do Portland fans read between the lines? I said UNLOAD Humphries, Bogans and Wallace – not trade them to Portland. Celtics will have positive equity come trade time next year and tons of flexibility to go after free agents and/or draft prospects. Read up on the Celtics-Net trades to educate yourself on why they will be a contender in this market next year.

Aldridge really isn’t a center. Having Dirk and Aldridge on the same team would be unwise. Neither is a great rebounder or is a shot blocker. Offensively, it would be nice, but they’d get killed on D with those 2. Dalembert is a better compliment for Dallas, and he’s already been signed.

Send him to the Celtics for Humphries, Courtney Lee (so the salary works) and 2 first round picks. Give them Wallace if they’d prefer him over Humphries….and I’d throw in a 3rd first rounder or our $10 million Trade Exception if need be !!!

Are you serious! As a Portland fan and responsible fan of basketball, there is no way that trading a perennial all-star talent like Aldridge for Humphries, Lee, and two picks would work. Players with some type of all-star credentials or potential will need to be involved for Portland to pull off on a trade of someone as valuable as Aldridge, sorry…

It also makes no sense for either team to make that trade. Celtics aren’t looking for 1 player to take $15M/yr right now, especially not a player like Aldridge. That also wouldn’t get Aldridge on a contender, which is what he wants (the Celtics are at least 3-4 years from being a possible contender again). And for the Blazers, they wouldn’t want anything except for those draft picks, but they would be dumb to give up a decent PF who has been productive for that return.